NewZed

Sounds like you might have a bad positive cable connection, either at the starter or at the battery. What you described is just the way that the car is supposed to be wired up. Connecting the truck battery did not "change" the wiring scheme. You connected the truck battery the way that the car's battery is supposed to be connected. I looked at your pictures again and the wiring is really messy. You have two red cables, and an extra black one for some reason. Can't tell what's connected to what either. Make sure that the wiring is correct. Your test with the truck battery indicates that you have the car wired up incorrectly, somehow.

Study how the (edit - oops) starter drive system works (Bendix doesn't explain it all). The starter solenoid drives the starter gear in to the flywheel ring gear then the starter motor relay is compressed after the gears mesh, at the end of the stroke. Your symptoms sound like the gear is getting jammed before the other end of the Bendix can reach the relay at the bottom of its travel. Basically, the flywheel gear and the starter gear must be misaligned. You might be able to loosen the bolts and give it a quick touch just to see if that changes anything. Or loosen the bolts and pull the starter outward to free up some play, then retighten. There's always play. If loosening the bolts helps, you can always create your own play with a file. On the other hand, if that works, you could just take it back and swap it for one with better QC. Or you could just do that from the start. If the old one worked the new one should too. Don't do their work for them.

Sorry, I wrote my post before my coffee kicked in. Of course there's a right and a left because the splined diff shafts, of unequal length, are attached to the CV axles. My mistake. I don't know the Quaife internals but if it's open through the middle, maybe you can push a rod all the way through from the other, to press the clip against. Stick the clip in cokced and use the rod as a backstop just to get it squared up. If you can get a rod in there, you could shove the clip all the way down to the groove and catch an edge in the groove. Then use the rod as a backstop and squeeze the clip in to the groove. Less stress on the clip, it doesn't have to get so small.

Found some numbers. Apparently they are different. jmortensen, in past posts, has recommended removing the struts and running the suspension through its full travel to be sure there's no binding. https://www.nissanpartsdeal.com/parts-list/1982-nissan-280zx/rear-drive-shaft.html?Diagram=396_002 You could swap the shafts...

Are you sure that they are of different lengths? The Z31's seem to be but this writeup suggests that the 280ZX's aren't. Nissan part numbers would tell a story but I can't find them. The aftermarket and reman companies are full of bad info. http://www.zhome.com/rnt/FordPower/HalfShaft.html zcarsource does not differentiate, and they are rebuilt Nissan parts. https://zcarsource.com/rebuilt-cv-half-shaft-for-the-1981-83-datsun-nissan-280zx-turbo Autozone does not either. Good luck. https://www.autozone.com/drivetrain/cv-axle/duralast-gold-cv-axle/346646_0_12552

Show us the picture. Count the spark plug wires.

Seems like math and calculations say to just buy another cheap car. Part out the dead one.

Why would the machine shop guy talk about the head when you showed him pictures of the block and cylinders? And don't you have a rag or a paper towel even? Why don't you clean things up so that you can see? Everything's covered in dirty oil. And you're talking about welding the tops of the sleeves now. That's a whole different thing. Anyway, good luck. There's probably a ton out there on the internet about rebuilding a 2001 Honda Civic Vtec engine, and that type of damage is probably common. I'd get on a Honda site if you want experienced advice. There is a proper procedure to follow for evaluating parts during a rebuild, and measurements to take to determine if they can be reconditioned.. Nothing that we've written here really helps you much. You can't just weld up a thin area like that without warpage. You'd be wasting time and money even if you could figure out how to separately weld the steel, then the aluminum. That divot in the aluminum, the second arrow, looks like an incomplete casting actually. Not caused by the HG blowing. Normal. Probably the same on hundreds of other blocks.

That tiny divot between the tops of the cylinder sleeves probably doesn't matter. The sleeves do the work. Look at how thin the material is between the sleeves and the cooling passages. Probably be more clear if you wipe the dirty oil off and put a flat edge on the sleeve ends. The opposing spot on the cylinder head is probably of more concern.

That makes sense. I see now that I didn't see the lip right in the picture. Good luck, should be better once you get the new parts in.

That's weird. Did they make a sucking noise then they came free? Like a vacuum seal? I notice a pretty deep lip on the adapters but it looks like the grease seal sits on top of the lip in your first picture. I wonder if whoever made the adapters intended for you to leave the flat grease seal plate off, or if they thought that the grease seal plate would fit inside the lip. You probably want to study how those parts fit together, your axle ends and adapter, and compare to how Nissan did it. Not sure it's the same. Maybe somebody has a picture of the stock setup bolted together. Thanks for updating, it's interesting.

The springs have probably been cut or it has aftermarket lowering springs. The spacer, #13, is just a rubber donut. You have to remove the strut and the springs to get to it. So, not so easy. But you could probably make a taller one or find something to stick in there. you can still buy them from Nissan if you want to see what it is before you dig in. It's small though. You can get about a quarter inch by putting body shims between the top of the strut and the body, on the three studs that bolt it in. I did that on one side of mine to level it out. That's a tiny lift though. Springs are probably the easiest way to raise it up. Take a look and see what you have first.

I think that you're on the "Reply" page, for threads. I'm talking about the Messages function. The envelope in the upper right corner.

Tried to paste an image in to a message and there's no option to upload from my computer. Only from attachments already pasted in to other messages. Doesn't make sense.

Just imagine that each bushing has a little bit of room to move. Just a hair. The tighter the metal is pressed in to the urethane the more vibration that will be transmitted. I used washers to add length to the center tube for my urethane bushings so that the urethane is not clamped tightly. AZC's bar might not need anything. I just remembered something that you might want to consider that might also be part of your noise problem. Driveline angles. Ron Tyler designed his first mount for a small block chevy application, so the diff nose is angled up a little bit if you use the hanging GM mount. With a snubber and the Nissan lower mount you maintain the original Nissan diff nose angle. But your V10 application might need some adjustment. Worth confirming and adjusting while you're working on it.

What part of Oregon are you in? I think that I have one. Might be able to get it to you.

I have my own RT style mount with the urethane GM mount, hanging the diff nose from above. No bottom mount at all, just the crossmember with no mount on it. It's quiet. I had urethane mustache bar mounts though and had to do some spacing with washers to keep the urethane from transmitting diff noise to the cabin. So take care to isolate the mustache bar mounts also if you want to make it quiet. The key to keeping it quiet is to allow just a small amount of play in the bushings. Don't clamp the urethane down tightly. With a stock rubber mount on the bottom you could leave a small air gap between the snubber and the diff to avoid noise transmission. You'd want a new rubber Nissan mount though to avoid thumping/clunking. The thump comes from the diff nose dropping down after lifting during acceleration. The T3 mount is kind of overkill with the wires because the Energy Suspension mount has interlocking metal inside to hold it together if the urethane fails. Thats why it works well alone on the top, it's not just hanging from urethane, there's metal in there. The metal is separated by urethane though so it doesn't transmit noise. http://www.energysuspension.com/products/Transmission-Mounts.html

Actually, not sure which T3 part you got. Their web site is too fancy to work through.

This one? - https://technotoytuning.com/nissan/280z/r180r200-long-nose-front-differential-mount This one is pretty popular - https://www.technoversions.com/DiffMountHome.html It mounts above. The T3 version is very intricate but seems like lots of design for the same function. Looks like a work of art though.

That's not what the liners are there for. They are emissions devices, meant to get very hot to help complete combustion of unburned fuel. So that cylinder didn't "overtemp" because the liner came loose. Still not clear why you have low pressure. I think that they are cast-in, and start in two pieces, maybe tack-welded together. So yours might not have cracked, one piece just came loose. You'll probably find that some of the others are a little loose also. The thermostat housing bolts are almost always tight, even on engines that run perfectly. If the gaskets leak just a little bit the coolant gets in to the bolt hole and causes the bolt to rust.

That is weird. You could release the three bent over clips (picture below) and pull the axles, leaving the sealing plate behind. Maybe you'll find something odd. Maybe they fastened the sealing plate on then assembled the CV afterward. People do strange things, like they did on your inboard CV. I posted a link to where my earlier picture came from that showed a source for the axles. They were used on 2+2 280ZX's or turbo 280ZX's. They're hard to find and sometimes the aftermarket parts are different. If you find one at a parts store take your old one to compare lengths. https://picclick.com/2x-CV-Joint-Axle-Assembly-Rear-Fits Datsun-280ZX-253130612896.html

jhm makes a good point about solid diff mounts and noise. The early R200's had loose tolerances on the gears and they tend to howl or whine or warble. Nissan put a lot of effort in to isolating the diff from the body with rubber bushings. The clips are installed in the diff before the axles are inserted. They spring open as the axle slides through then close up in the axle's groove. Here are a couple of old threads about problems. Don't know why I find this topic so interesting...

This might be the cause of the noise and/or damage. These should be solidly locked in to place by the circlip. You should have needed to pry them out. The inverse of the problem I mentioned above, difficulty removing the axles from aftermarket diffs, is that they can also be difficult to insert. Some people just leave the clips out, or destroy them by pounding the axles in. You'll know when it gets taken apart. Might actually be cheaper to just buy a new one.

Sorry, when you said "carrier" I thought that you meant the diff. The outboard side is usually called the hub. Anyway, there's no locating ring or anything to stick on that end of the axle. That thin piece of brass-colored metal is just the grease containment seal for the CV joint. I'll bet it's just stuck on some new paint on the hub. It's just two big flat surfaces pressed against each other. Here's what the end looks like. A rubber hammer will probably knock it loose or some careful prying. It's not a sealing surface. Edit - make sure that the CV housing doesn't come off of the sealing plate though. You'll get grease everywhere. You can see the little tabs that hold it on. https://picclick.com/2x-CV-Joint-Axle-Assembly-Rear-Fits Datsun-280ZX-253130612896.html

Sounds like you have a 280ZX CV shaft. They still just pop out from the carrier, like the shorter 280Z shafts. There is a circlip inside that fits matching grooves. I have used an oiled chisel to drive between the housing and the shaft to lever it out. Apparently, though, some of the aftermarket diffs have a tighter fit and the circlip can be difficult to get out of its groove. Here's a diagram from the 280ZX FSM, showing the complementary grooves and the circlip inside. The clip should stay inside the diff.